Imagery and recall of faces

Abstract

Neuroscience In the ventral temporal cortex (VTC) of the primate brain, there are special visual areas for the recognition of faces. The role of VTC neurons in nonsensory visual processing such as imagery and recall is poorly understood. Khuvis et al. recorded from electrodes implanted in the VTC of patients being monitored for surgery to treat epilepsy while they viewed faces and later recalled them. Recorded neurons showed diverse response patterns while maintaining specialization for nonliving and living stimuli. Likewise, neural responses to the presentation of individual faces were robustly discriminated. These responses were reproduced when subjects recalled and visualized previously presented faces in the absence of sensory stimuli. J. Neurosci. 41 , 3386 (2021).